We are trying something new at the Feb. 25 meeting. The lecture will start at 11 am. Then at 12:30 pm, lunch and the study group. Please email any comments to sggs@sggs.us. Thanks.

SGGS' 24^th Annual Seminar:

Speaker: Teresa Steinkamp McMillin, C.G.

Date: May 2, 2020

At: Christ Community Church, Carmichael

More information

SGGS' Online Store

The SGGS Online Store which sells Der Blumenbaum back issues and a few mechandise items is temporarily closed. It will reopen soon with an all new look and easier to use customer interface. If you have any questions about ordering merchandise, please contact SGGS <sggs@sggs.us>.

SGGS also looking for people to help with sales during meetings and to ship items ordered online. If you would like volunteer, please contact SGGS at any of its meetings or the foregoing email address.

Sept. 24 Presentation Q&A

At the Sept. 24, 2019 SGGS meeting, Shirley Riemer presented a list of German genealogiy questions and answers, intended to test the audience's knowledge. The presentation handout can be downloaded using the below link. The presentation was not video recorded.

Download the complete list of questions and answers

Didn't attend the conference?

Want to listen again to conference sessions?

Wish you could better remember what was said?

If you answered yes,

then you've struck gold!

Most of the speakers gave permisssion for their sessions to be audio recorded. Those recordings can now be purchased.

Go to the

2019 IGGC page

on the Fleetwood Onsite Conference Recording website.

Note: These are audio-only recordings. The syllabus document containinig speaker handouts is not included. That was separately provided to conference attendees.

A highly successful conference is concluded!

Customer support for attendees is now being provided by SGGS. Email SGGS at sggs@sggs.us.

What's New?

IGGP News – The 3^rd International German Genealogy Conference taking place July 16 to 18 of 2021 in Cincinnati, Ohio. More information.
Der Blumenbaum – Effective immediately, Der Blumenbaum will be published three times a year instead of four. The new publication months are July for volume 1, November for volume 2 and March for volume 3. Issue size will vary depending on included content. The next issue is expected to to be mailed in late October.
Correction – The January 2019 issue of Der Blumenbaum contains an error one article: Ingeborg Carpenter, mother of two American Children, becomes a natualized U.S. citizen. Download corrected article.
GIACR – SGGS has just purchased six additional volumes of the Germans Immigrants in American Church Records series for donation to the Sacramento FamilySearch Library. Scroll to the bottom of this page for more information.
New DB Index – Shirley Riemer just completed an update to the Der Blumenbaum index, now posted on the Society Documents page in the members-only section. This new version is current to Volume 36, Number 2 (Oct. 2018).
The SGGS Blog – SGGS now has its own Blog! Marilyn Simleness, the new Membership Director, wanted to find a way to reach out to more of our members in an interactive way. It is in its infancy, but our new blog has great potential for growing our organization, welcoming new members, and responding to concerns or questions of our members. At first, posts will be made on a weekly basis. We hope you will take the time to check out The SGGS Blog!

Interested in Helping SGGS?

Click here to visit the volunteer opportunities page.

Click here to visit the organizational structure page.

GIACR Project

"This series is one of the most important, most professional, immigrant identification databases published in the last 100 years."

Publisher Lewis Bunker Rohrbach

Since 2005, Dr. Roger Minert and his group at Brigham Young University have been transcribing, indexing and publishing German-American church records in a series of volumes called German Immigrants in American Church Records [GIACR]. A current list is presented below. All are Protestant records.

This table will be updated as new volumes become available. Revised: Sept. 3, 2019

On the shelf at the Sacramento FamilySearch Library		Future Volumes
Vol. 1: Indiana Vol. 2: Wisconsin Northwest Vol. 3: Wisconsin Northeast Vol. 4: Wisconsin Southwest Vol. 5: Wisconsin Southeast Vol. 6: Nebraska Vol. 7: Iowa West Vol. 8: Iowa Northeast Vol. 9: Iowa Southeast Vol. 10: Illinois North Vol. 11: Illinois, Cook County and Chicago Vol. 12: Illinois Central Vol. 13: Illinois South Vol. 14: Illinois St. Clair County Vol. 15: Michigan, excluding Detroit Vol. 16: Detroit, Part I Vol. 17: Detroit, Part II Vol. 18: Minnesota, North & South Dakota Vol. 19: Missouri (excluding St. Louis city & county)	Vol. 20: Missouri, St. Louis County, St. Louis City I Vol. 21: Missouri, St. Louis County, St. Louis City II Vol. 22: Missouri, St. Louis County, St. Louis City III Vol. 23: Missouri, St. Louis County, St. Louis City IV Vol. 24: Missouri, St. Louis County, St. Louis City V Vol. 25: Missouri, St. Louis County, St. Louis City VI	Vol. 26: Northwest Ohio Vol. 27: Ohio (Toledo) Vol. 28 Northeast Ohio

Shelf at the Sacramento FamilySearch Library.

Click on the image for a larger view:

This project has been funded by Brigham Young University and some private donors. Unfortunately, said funding has lapsed beginning 2016. So last year SGGS provided a donation to help sustain their 2016 operation and appealed to readers of Der Blumenbaum to do the same. Click here to view a thank-you from the project staff. As volumes became available, SGGS has been purchasing one of each for the Sacramento FamilySearch Library (on Eastern Ave).

For SGGS members, more information can be found on page 11 of your July 2015 issue of Der Blumenbaum. But the donation instructions in that article turned out to be incorrect. If you would like to make a personal donation to this project, mail a check payable to "Religious Education BYU" to the following address. Be sure to also mention you're donating to the GIARC project.

Prof. Roger P. Minert

270K JSB BYU

Provo, UT 84602-5669

Some GIACR volumes are sold by SGGS at its meetings. Online sources follow.

Click here for Family Roots Publishing (expected to be the new supplier).

Upcoming Events

Feb 25

Techniques for Helping Adoptees and Others with Unknown Parentage Find Their Birth Families

Genealogist and SGGS member Doug Saathoff will present Techniques for Helping Adoptees and Others with Unknown Parentage Find Their Birth Families. The presentation will start at 11 am sharp. At 12:30 pm, lunch break followed by the study group. Note that thes times are reversed. At this meeting we are now trying out doing the lecture first, then the study group.

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Mar 17

SGGS Board Meeting

Come and observe the planning process that keeps SGGS humming. You will have an opportunity during the meeting to provide some brief feedback. And you can talk to board members individually after the meeting, time permitting. If you plan to attend, please email SGGS <sggs@sggs.us> prior to the meeting so that a sufficient number of chairs will be available. This meeting takes place in room E25 on the 2nd floor of the classrooms building.

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Mar 24

What's Your Story? Writing Tips and Techniques

A Passionate Genealogist, Family Historian, and Author, Bill Cole will share his storytelling writing tips and techniques to help you write a story that will get read. The presentation will start at 11 am sharp. At 12:30 pm, lunch break followed by the study group. Note that thes times are reversed. At this meeting we will again be doing the lecture first, then the study group.

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